A wild stretch on the college football calendar means that some of the best teams in the country are spending this week building their 2026 rosters while simultaneously preparing for conference title games and the College Football Playoff. Who knew the archetype of a modern coach would require such an emphasis on multitasking?
But here we are — chugging through an interminable stretch that includes the coaching carousel, conference championship week and the three-day early signing period, which opened Wednesday for high school athletes. There are some individuals out there — like Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who was just announced as the new head coach at South Florida but will remain with the Buckeyes through the College Football Playoff — juggling what appears to be three or four jobs at once. If not more.Â
To catch up on all the recruiting storylines, let’s dive into how things unfolded on the first day of the early signing period. All information for this article was updated Wednesday afternoon, and all rankings came from the 247Sports Composite.Â
Here are my takeaways:Â
1. Revenue sharing and NIL are spreading high-end talent across the country
Back in the summer of 2021, when it became clear that collegiate athletics was barreling toward a new frontier with the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, there were certain figures in or adjacent to the sporting world who believed the above-board compensation of players would only further consolidate talent at programs that had, for years, been lapping the competition in recruiting. In other words, these coaches, media members and politicians presumed the rich would only get richer.
Five years later, however, the preliminary results from this week’s early signing period continue to demonstrate that any suggestion of consolidation was patently false — a misread of how NIL resources and, subsequently, revenue sharing between schools and athletes would actually influence talent distribution across the sport. The traditional powers in college football are still doing well relative to the competition — Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas all have top-10 recruiting classes in 2026 — but so many other programs are now entering the mix for five-star prospects.
As of Wednesday afternoon, nearly 20 different schools had either signed or received a verbal commitment from at least one five-star recruit in this year’s class, of which there are 34 prospects in total who have earned that rating. Notre Dame (four five-stars), Alabama (four) and Oregon (four) are tied for the most such players, with Texas (three), Michigan (two) and Tennessee (two) not far behind. None of those programs would qualify as surprising destinations for the country’s top talent.
But the list also includes numerous non-traditional locales:
— Vanderbilt flipped top-ranked quarterback Jared Curtis (No. 1 overall, No. 1 QB) from Georgia earlier this week.Â
— Houston successfully maintained the commitment of ultra-athletic quarterback Keisean Henderson (No. 3 overall, No. 2 QB).
— Maryland secured the country’s best edge rusher in Zion Elee (No. 5 overall, No. 1 edge).
— Texas Tech spent big to land offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 13 overall, No. 2 OT) and edge rusher LaDamion Guyton (No. 15 overall, No. 4 edge).
— Utah landed an elite offensive tackle from Idaho in Kelvin Obot (No. 27 overall, No. 4 OT).
— Mississippi State signed the seventh-best recruit in program history by snagging in-state safety Bralan Womack (No. 30 overall, No. 1 S).
All told, it’s the continuation of an exciting trend that has seen five-star talent spread from 13 different programs in 2017, to 15 different programs in 2020, to 16 different programs in 2023 and, now, to 19 different programs in 2026. Such diversification is great for the sport, because it means far more teams have legitimate chances to reach the College Football Playoff each year.Â
2. Movement on the coaching carousel sparks flurry of late changes
With so many Power 4 jobs becoming available during the middle and back half of the season — from Penn State and Virginia Tech to Auburn, Florida, Michigan State and LSU, among others — the early signing period was likely to include a frantic reshuffling of the deck as players reacted to changes in real time. And when the early signing period collided with a coaching carousel in high gear, madness was bound to ensue.Â
Nowhere was that more evident than at Penn State, where interim coach Terry Smith and what remains of the Nittany Lions’ staff lost one commit after another following the firing of head coach James Franklin, who was subsequently hired by Virginia Tech. As of 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday — by which point Franklin had been in charge of the Hokies for a little more than two weeks — he’d succeeded in ruthlessly flipping and signing 10 prospects who were previously committed to him at Penn State:Â
— Four-star linebacker Terry Wiggins (No. 189 overall, No. 11 LB)
— Four-star running back Messiah Mickens (No. 209 overall, No. 14 RB)
— Four-star wide receiver Davion Brown (No. 259 overall, No. 38 WR)
— Four-star edge rusher Tyson Harley (No. 262 overall, No. 26 edge)
— Four-star quarterback Troy Huhn (No. 309 overall, No. 21 QB)
— Four-star tight end Pierce Petersohn (No. 325 overall, No. 16 TE)
— Four-star offensive tackle Marlen Bright (No. 437 overall, No. 40 OT)
— Three-star linebacker Mathieu Lamah (No. 496 overall, No. 39 LB)
— Three-star interior offensive lineman Benjamin Eziuka (No. 516 overall, NO. 41 IOL)
— Three-star cornerback Amauri Polydor (No. 601 overall, No. 46 CB)
Franklin’s raid left the Nittany Lions with just two signees and vaulted Virginia Tech’s class to 22nd nationally and fifth in the ACC behind Miami, Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson. And while the rankings are still subject to change in the coming days and months — classes won’t be finalized until February — this will likely be the first time the Hokies have cracked the top 30 since finishing 26th overall in 2019 under former coach Justin Fuente.
There was a similar exodus of players flipping from Ole Miss to LSU, following head coach Lane Kiffin from one SEC school to another now that the carousel’s biggest domino has finally toppled. Kiffin, who was only named the Tigers’ head coach on Sunday, convinced four-star wide receiver Corey Barber (No. 169 overall, No. 25 WR), four-star tight end JC Anderson (No. 230 overall, No. 11 TE) and four-star interior offensive lineman Ryan Miret (No. 859 overall, No. 68 IOL) to spurn the Rebels and sign with LSU in short order.Â
Still, the most surprising twist from the opening of the early signing period involved Hartline, who was hired Wednesday to become the next head coach at USF. A wide receivers coach by trade, Hartline had developed into the sport’s premier position coach thanks to an assembly line of five-star wideouts who blossomed into stars for the Buckeyes and sustained their success in the NFL.Â
Five-star wideout Chris Henry Jr. (No. 10 overall, No. 1 WR), who’d been committed to the Buckeyes since July 28, 2023, opted not to sign with Ohio State on Wednesday once news of Hartline’s move went public, sharing on social media that he needs more time to evaluation his options. His high school teammate, four-star wideout Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, another Buckeye commit, flipped his pledge to USC and promptly signed with the Trojans.Â
Moving forward, it’s fair to wonder if Hartline’s departure will influence any of the current wideouts on Ohio State’s roster when the transfer portal opens next month.Â
3. USC holding on to the nation’s best recruiting class
One of the addendums that seemed to accompany every discussion about the future of USC head coach Lincoln Riley, whose 35-17 overall record since taking has left plenty to be desired across four arduous seasons, was the idea that the Trojans’ stellar 2026 recruiting class might be his biggest saving grace — aside from what is reported to be a very hefty buyout.Â
For much of this calendar year, Riley has presided over the No. 1 class in the country thanks to an offseason reconfiguration of USC’s recruiting department, a slew of early commitments that vaulted the Trojans atop the rankings and robust financial commitments from donors and the university alike. The primary question from summer through the early signing period, especially as Riley’s current team slipped from the College Football Playoff discussion, was whether USC could get its prized class across the finish line before other programs poached key pieces.
By Wednesday afternoon, it became clear that the answer was a resounding “yes,” even though not every commit had officially put pen to paper. But with 31 signatures from a class that included 35 verbal commits, Riley is on the cusp of securing the Trojans’ strongest high school recruiting crop since former coach Pete Carroll had the program competing for national championships two decades ago. The group includes 22 four- and five-star prospects and features a staggering 15 players ranked among the top 200 nationally. Georgia and Texas A&M are the only schools with more four-star commits than USC in the current cycle.Â
The jewel of the class is five-star tight end Mark Bowman (No. 23 overall, No. 3 TE) from local powerhouse Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. Bowman is one of 20 commitments the Trojans have earned from in-state prospects as Riley and his personnel department dedicated more attention to local talent than at any point in his tenure. This year’s reliance on California is far more aligned with the recruiting philosophy employed by Carroll during the most successful run in program history from 2001-09. By contrast, Riley’s last two classes only featured 17 in-state prospects combined.Â
4. Big Ten struggling with QB recruiting in 2026 cycleÂ
Entering the early signing period, there were 28 four- and five-star quarterback prospects in this year’s class. That number is down slightly from 30 such prospects in 2025 and 32 such prospects in 2024 — important context when considering the (limited) supply and (immense) demand for quality players at the sport’s most critical position. No recruitments are fiercer, or more influential, than those involving quarterbacks.Â
From a 30,000-foot view, the Big Ten could be reasonably pleased with its conference-wide performance in landing coveted signal-callers. The conference’s teams either signed or earned verbal commitments from seven of the 28 available blue-chip prospects, second only to the SEC, which brought in nine. The ACC was third with six high-level quarterbacks. The Big 12 was fourth with five.Â
Notre Dame, an independent, was the only program from outside the power conferences to sign a four- or five-star quarterback.Â
But the extreme upper echelon of this year’s crop tells a different story — one that paints the Big Ten in a considerably different light: Only one of the top-10 quarterbacks in the country chose to join the conference. That was four-star Jonas Williams, an Illinois product who signed with USC. He’s the No. 101 overall prospect and No. 8 quarterback in the country.Â
Behind him, the next-best Big Ten prospect is four-star Iowa signee Tradon Bessinger (No. 140 overall, No. 11 QB). The rest of the top 10 belongs to the SEC (six) and, somewhat stunningly, the Big 12 (three):Â
No. 1 QB — Jared Curtis, Vanderbilt *Â
No. 2 QB — Keisean Henderson, Houston *
No. 3 QB — Faizon Brandon, Tennessee *Â
No. 4 QB — Dia Bell, Texas *Â
No. 5 QB — Ryder Lyons, BYU
No. 6 QB — Bowe Bentley, Oklahoma
No. 7 QB — Jett Thomalla, Alabama
No. 8 QB — Jonas Williams, USC
No. 9 QB — Jake Fette, Arizona State
No. 10 QB — Landon Duckworth, South Carolina
* Denotes five-star prospectÂ
Absent from that upper tier are traditional Big Ten powers like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State — all of whom signed quarterbacks ranked outside the top 300 players nationally. The Buckeyes took Luke Fahey (No. 630 overall, No. 37 QB); the Wolverines took Brady Smigiel (No. 343 overall, No. 23 QB); and the Nittany Lions, who endured a mid-season coaching change and still haven’t hired a full-time replacement for James Franklin, reclaimed Peyton Falzone (No. 306 overall, No. 20 QB) after previously losing his commitment to Auburn.Â
If the current results hold, this will be the Big Ten’s smallest group of elite signal-callers in three years after signing five top-10 quarterbacks in 2025 and four in 2024. It’s something to monitor in the coming years.Â
4½. Bill Belichick caps tough season with strong recruiting push
For so many reasons — some of which involved football, some didn’t — North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick seemed to occupy the national spotlight on a weekly basis as he transitioned from the NFL to the collegiate ranks. On the field, his Tar Heels lost seven of their final nine games to finish 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. Off the field, his high-profile relationship with girlfriend Jordon Hudson and his passive-aggressive feud with the New England Patriots provided a steady stream of tabloid fodder.Â
Given that he was hired last December, which meant Belichick and the Tar Heels’ staff had to scramble to put together their first roster, the program’s 2026 recruiting class was always going to be a better indication of what the regime could accomplish. And it must be said that the early returns through Wednesday afternoon were fairly impressive.
North Carolina signed 39 players for a class that ranks 17th in the country and third in the ACC behind Miami and Florida State. Belichick secured 15 prospects rated among the top 500 nationally, including four from the top 200 in four-star cornerback Kenton Dopson (No. 127 overall, No. 17 CB); four-star athlete Jakob Weatherspoon (No. 142 overall, No. 13 ATH); four-star athlete CJ Sadler (No. 162 overall, No. 7 ATH); and four-star wide receiver Keeyun Chapman (No. 180 overall, No. 29 WR).Â
This would be the first time North Carolina has recorded a top-20 recruiting class since finishing 11th in 2022.Â
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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